I recently bought a used 2002 Santana 22 .

I will be sailing the boat in the south part of San Francisco Bay, a more benign area than the upper and central part of the Bay,doing day sailing only. A problem comes because my wife is definitely not interested in sailing; therefore I often must go out solo during the week. I am 72, so am more cautious than the younger guys, both because of balance limitations and because it would be difficult to pull myself back into the boat were I to end up in the drink. The natural thing (beyond the harness I use whenever I am out alone, thanks to a padeye in the cockpit) is to have a swim ladder to get myself back into the boat.

The commercial ones are wide; the Santana 22's stern is narrow at the sides and putting any "pullable" ladder in the well with the motor is impractical. I don't have stanchions, and putting a collapsible ladder on the deck is impractical. I know of the device ($200) that contains, in a bag, plastic triangles attached to the collapsible ladder, with a trailing rope; the idea is that it hangs from the shrouds, I guess. But what I wonder is if any of you are aware of any swim ladder that would be more practical than that?